Hardik Pandya opening the bowling was nothing new to us: Kieron Pollard

Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard defended Hardik Pandya's decision to open the bowling against Gujarat Titans and stated that it was a ‘collective decision’ and wasn’t taken by the all-rounder himself. Notably, despite having the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee in the mix, Hardik decided to open the bowling, but that didn’t turn out too well for the cricketer.

He proved to be expensive and eventually brought Bumrah into the attack, who picked up the first wicket in the fourth over of the match. When it came to batting, the newly appointed skipper pushed himself down the order and batted at number seven, even when Mumbai had a good chance of winning the match. He promoted Tim David up in the order, but that move didn’t work well, as the visitors lost by six runs.

Also Read: Irfan Pathan not impressed with Hardik Pandya's calls against Gujarat Titans

Speaking about the decisions, Pollard stated that the star all-rounder has the ability to swing the new ball, as Mumbai wanted to take advantage of that. He added that the team management agreed with the decision and went with it in the match.

“You have to plan and decide what you want to do as a team. Hardik (Pandya) has also bowled with the new ball for Gujarat over the last couple of years. He swung the new ball and bowled it well, which was nothing new to us. We tried to use the advantage of the new ball swinging along. When I look at the decision made, there is nothing wrong with it, and we move on,” Pollard was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Also Read: Brian Lara's dig at Hardik Pandya leaves Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bishop in splits

As a team, we have plans: Pollard

Defending his batting position, the former Mumbai Indians' all-rounder once again mentioned that everyone in the team management agreed on the same and added that any of Hardik and Tim David will finish games for MI this season.

“No decision is made on full autonomy, so we can't say it is his decision. As a team, we have plans; we talk about setting entry points for batters. The top order batted deep into the game, and we also had two power hitters to go in the back end. Usually, if you look at it over time, Tim (David) has finished games for us, and Hardik has done it over the years,” the veteran batter added.